It's OK, Moses, I'll clean it up...

Exodus 32King James Version (KJV)

32 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord.

6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:

8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.

16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.

18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.

19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

As I've always said, I have a Church background. I think about stuff. I've always sort of wondered...what must have gone through Moses's mind when he came down from the Mountain of St. Catherine and caught his people worshiping a golden statue of a cow?

Last night at work I saw this. Evidently, Paula White is hawking "Prayer flags" that supposedly have been "Blessed" by Donald Trump.

There's two small problems with that. #1 Donald Trump is not religious so far as I can tell, and #2 Prayer Flags and the use of them are a Chinese Traditional religion, Hindu and also Tibetan Buddhist/Traditional religious practice, not a Christian one. (The picture above is of Chinese traditional prayer flags in the Quilan Mountains in China.)

I know, I know...details...details...but who cares. Profit!

As my friend Aaron says, I've probably already put more thought into it than they have.

Then I saw this...

In the interest of not dirtying up my blog I'll link to the article rather than post the picture, the short version is that awhile back a retired New York (City) Police Department officer was photographed in the back of a boat, completely naked and humping away at a recently caught dead shark.

Right there with ya, Moses, right there with ya. Hold on, take a deep breath, I'll get the broom and dust pan...

Oh, forget it. This crap is ridiculous.

Now, I don't care if Buddhists in China and Hindus in India have prayer flags. That's their customs and they're observing their religious or traditional beliefs and that's absolutely nobody's business but theirs. I'm certainly not going to worry about it.

But please, go ahead, show me in the Bible where the words "Prayer" and "Flag" ever appear in the same verse, much less the same sentence. It's the weekend, I've got ALL day, I'll wait.

While we're at it, I don't really care what other people do with their bodies...but almost everybody I've ever met would agree that bestiality and necrophilia are disgusting and wrong.

For that matter, why did I push a stack of glass racks out into the break room at work so I could stack the cups on the cup rack, only to be immediately bombarded with (from all 3 TV's being as they were on the same channel) ads for "Adam & Eve.com" a website that sells sex toys...AND I WAS AT WORK! Had I brought my laptop to work, got on the internet with it and gone to that website to buy something I'd be in violation of the Casino's internet policy AND their sexual harassment policy! I could get FIRED! (...And yet, this crap is just fine on TV?) For the record if ya'll wanna buy sex toys go ahead. I don't care. When I've had a girlfriend or when I was married (and after that but still kind of involved with my ex-wife) I bought some. It's OK. BUT I DON'T WANNA SEE THAT STUFF WHEN I'M AT WORK! It's inappropriate in a professional setting.

Yet it's on TV. (The cashier, who is a Christian, and I the old former conservative who's getting too old for this crap, briefly commiserated about "Why do we have to put up with this?)

Why is this tolerated?

...And what does any of this have to do with the Bible verses posted above?

Money. That's why.

Gullible people buy unbiblical, unnecessary and just plain WRONG faux-religious articles because they've been sold a gold-plated load of just-plain-bullshit about politics and religion and the intersections thereof, and people who probably don't know the Quilan Mountains exist or are located in China don't know or care what the actual religious or theological significance of a prayer flag is, or that it doesn't relate to Christianity in the first place...but that it does relate to the kind of Shamanic and Traditional practices that the Church often historically (wrongly, in my view, but whatever) tried to stomp out whenever it could.

American pop-Christianity is loaded with this kind of fakery, and I spent much of this day discussing these matters (and to a great extent, this post) with a Facebook-friend who lives in Uganda, whose main concern right now is raising money to buy a water pump to irrigate a small patch of farmland that his United Methodist church (Lugala United Methodist Church, somewhere near Kampala) owns so the congregants can grow fruits and vegetables more efficiently to feed their kids.

Priorities, huh? For the total cost of six of those useless prayer flags, a church in Uganda would be able to irrigate its gardens better, have more food, maybe even sell some extra produce and raise money for whatever hard-working African people (for whom $100 is a LOT more money than it is to me) might need.

I wonder how many Americans really would take a chance on trading all this fake, stupid pop-culture and pop-religious fake garbage for the genuine effort to actually follow what we say we believe and help out a bunch of African kids who just need more vegetables and stuff? I quite wonder how many people would set aside the cheap grace, fake righteousness and sheer tribalism of Americanized Christianity and do what the Lord actually commands of us? How many would follow His Word and set aside even a little to help the disadvantaged? If half the people in just my small city gave a dollar that most of us wouldn't miss...those people could get themselves all type of stuff to make life better for everybody.

What are the odds? Even though the average person would probably find that they derived more emotional satisfaction from doing such a thing, how many would actually have the guts to do it, to stand on the faith they say they believe?

Well, my Twitter feed today has been aflame with all sorts of stuff about President Trump giving the Commencement speech at Liberty University in Virginia...and the stuff he and the other speakers have said.

The odds are not great. Trust me...and the answer is, only the people for whom that's their natural inclination anyway...and that's the problem.

When you make even being a decent person, much less following your own claimed beliefs optional, a lot of people just won't DO it.

They'll probably put more work into convincing you they do it than actually doing it would even take.

The kind of fake-religious garbage that caused Jesus to become angry and make a whip of cords to drive the money-changers from the Temple is not just thriving...complete with all the same kind of silly bullshit that Jesus Himself railed against back in the day...it's the only kind of Christianity indeed, I think the only religion that is actually growing in the United States of America right now.

Even the kind of Fundamentalist Christianity on which Liberty University is based is withering and dying here, or being overtaken by the kind of Prosperity Gospel false teaching embraced by Paula White and nominally claimed by Donald Trump. Mainstream Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, etc. etc. all are hanging in there, and some are even doing alright...but no belief system holds the spotlight right now like good old fashioned money-soaked American Calvinistic Protestantism...ESPECIALLY in its current debased Prosperity Gospel Pentecostal form (Actual believers in Reformed Theology are quite rare, and I say this as somebody who frequented online Christian forums for years) where the main (if not only) "Sins" appear to be being gay, having an abortion, not voting for the Republican Party and (apparently) not worshiping Donald Trump. That leaves an awful lot open. We are on track to soon have a Christ-less Christianity, that celebrates Godless capitalism and doesn't even know the children of Lugala UMC exist, or read the Book that says we should help them.

Actually...we're closer to attempting to realize Ayn Rand's vision of John Galt replacing the Sign of the Cross with the Sign of the Dollar than we are to reaching for Ronald Reagan's vision of America as a Shining City On A Hill.

...And that too, was a vision inspired by the Bible, even though Reagan wasn't all that religious.

Rand's vision, by contrast, was (as Chuck Colson called it) an "Idolatry of self and selfishness, that places Man at the center of a Godless world, where self-satisfaction becomes the moral purpose of his life."

I know from life experience and being aware of how the world works, which of the two visions helps me more. I know which inspired me...and which I view as an obstacle that threatens my future. I'm hardly an orthodox believer in anything...Christian influences I can't shake aside...and I reject Ayn Rand and her Godless, selfish Atheism...

...Even as so much of American Christianity rushes to embrace it.

When you start out being taught the Truth...especially, I think, if you're given the choice to follow or not to follow...at least some of it will stay with you.

Sometimes it does that whether you want it to or not. All these years later I really can't explain it all.

It's hard to know the Truth, that's what tells me those rushing to support the way things are, don't. Their way is easy. All they want...is more. Meanwhile, I'm fine with what I have. I know people for whom life would be a lot better if they had just the equivalent of one of my paychecks.

We're in some deep shit, people, but keep at it. Work, for the night is coming.

We can do better, but it starts with each of us putting in whatever efforts we can, all of us.

Maybe, if you meet one, ask a Ugandan about what's really important in life.

Chances are good you'll hear a lot about farming and Jesus. You'd have to go all the way back to my Grandpa's generation to get that here.

Enter through the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad the way leading to destruction, and many are those entering through it. ~Matthew 7:13 (NIV)

And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder...

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

~Revelation 6:1-2 (KJV)

As the name of this blog implies, I have ferrets.

Last week, the local pet store got this little Cinnamon Sprite kit (A Sprite being a spayed female ferret.) I had got there just as the delivery guy was dropping off the weekly critter shipment Wednesday morning. As usual, that shipment included a couple of baby ferrets. My friend Tyler got the ferrets (This one and a little red-eyed Champagne/Sandy Gib kit...a Gib being a neutered male ferret) out of the shipping box. She immediately latched on to his fingers, jaw-locked and hissing in that sort of way only an enraged weasel can. I helped disengage her, we put the other kit in the ferret cage and I took little miss bitey back to the cat towers to work with her a bit. I grabbed a squeaky toy on the way.

When I got back to the cat towers I put her down on the shelf in front of the cat tower, let her bite and grab my finger, then pulled her off and scruffed her saying "No bite." Next, I offered her the toy, squeaking it a couple of times for emphasis. (The toy, since you can't see the whole thing, is a little green dragon.) She immediately grabbed it and started to back up into the lower section of a cat tower. I held fast, so a tug-of-war ensued between me and this ferret. I let her have it a couple times, offered her my hand (she bit) scruffed her again and then offered the toy. This went on for about 20 minutes. A couple of times she bit hard and drew blood, but she was slowly getting the idea. Finally, I just held her down and started petting her, and she seemed to calm down and recognize that I was something other than a threat or a giant chew toy. By the time I left the store, we'd made friends. It might not seem like much, but it was a small victory. Last Friday I brought her and her cage-mate an old dog toy (same brand as the dragon, but it was a Triceratops dinosaur.) It lasted the weekend before the two teething baby ferrets destroyed it. (This toy had previously survived the jaws of 32 other ferrets, but I digress.) The little Sprite has since gone on to a new and happy home and the little Gib is my pet store buddy.

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing, really, but also everything.

Ferrets are fearless little critters, for one.

In my experience, a good act, or a positive accomplishment or the completion of a project makes people feel good (self included here) whether it's getting out of work after a busy shift, helping somebody, paying my bills, or even something as simple as bite-training a baby ferret so they'll go to a good home. In my experience also, knowledge...real knowledge...translates into power. Knowing the history of the Antebellum era, and of the Civil War...indeed having been raised on it...gave me the capability to say that the President was wrong to say the dumb shit he said about Andrew Jackson and the Civil War...and to know I was right because I've been studying this history since I was learning to read in the first place. Knowledge reinforcing values prevents one from being lured into the catatonia of groupthink, or from being moved by popularity and going along with the crowd. In the world today, believe it or not, that matters. As I have said many times, I started out as a Christian and as a conservative. It is precisely for those reasons that I didn't go with the crowd and support Donald Trump.

With all that in mind, it never ceases to amaze me that people would choose the societal heroin of racism or sexism as the means to feel good about themselves, or chase after stupid and often blatantly false conspiracy theories above actually seeking knowledge (and remember folks, I started out as a conservative. Facts are nonpartisan, and stubborn things. They are true whether one believes in them or not. A solid baseline of facts and reality was once a part of conservatism.) It blows my mind that young men...and even some my age...will go on living in their Mom's basement, angrily spewing all sorts of nonsensical invective, racism and whatever else at the world because they're angry that they can't find a girlfriend, or their job sucks, or they don't have a job...and to a great extent these are the people who supported Trump, either because they wanted to make the rest of us miserable or (and worse, in my opinion) because they thought it would be funny.

Well, roughly two-thirds of the rest of us Americans aren't laughing, Pepe.

Like I've said, if you want to defeat terrorism...don't be afraid. Don't allow yourself to be terrorized. If you aren't happy with your life, you can go out and change it. You. YOU, YOUR actions are always the key here. If you don't want to be afraid all the time, instead of wishing for a government that will kill all of your bogeymen and/or "protect" you from the things you're afraid of...why not just try not being afraid in the first place? Be fearless like a ferret. If you want your country to not get laughed at or taken advantage of, well, don't do stupid shit and allow yourself to be taken advantage of.

We are all responsible for our own actions.

A large number of Americans have proved the veracity of the old adage that if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

It's just not the particular people I thought it would be 20 years ago.

I saw earlier today that FBI director James Comey testified before Congress today, and the lack of interest from some Republican Senators was pretty ridiculous. I mean, come on, people. This is our country we're talking about. Now I know that American conservatives are suddenly in these last couple of years butt-buddies with the Russians. Hell, once upon a time we were that way with Saudi Arabia too...but goddamn it, if we'd been taking orders from or our politicians had got elected with the aid of the House of Saud there'd have been hell to pay at the ballot box the next cycle, if not blood in the streets. This is where we're at right now, Comrades. It's coming down to "Do something, preferably the right thing, or face the consequences.

Because that's just what happens.

Change is coming, and they can blithely ignore it all they want, but whether by ballot or revolution, it's coming. We the People are no longer asleep at the switch. The middle has moved on, while the majority of Trump Supporters are either angry poor whites or rich old white men, the majority of us took our campaign signs down last November. So, sooner or later these idiots are going to walk into a buzz saw. Smart Republican strategists know it, and they are already worried about 2018. They know people are pissed. As Trump daily proves himself more and more unfit, and demand for impeachment grows...well, the current behavior of Congressional Republicans and the assholes who constitute the majority of Trump Supporters these days...that's exactly the type of shit that sparks revolutions.

When you have Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Redneckistan) saying shit like "Good people don't have pre-existing conditions" well that's when a hell of a lot of the people who agree with him on a lot of beliefs...but have preexisting medical conditions for which they need health care...well, he just probably lost those people. It amazes me that people say shit like this in a world where firing squads, Guillotines and revolutions of all kinds exist.

It amazes me that here we have all these people, who were presumably taught some kind of values at some point...who could use the positions and power they have to effect good policies and positive change and in so doing become great...settle for at best mediocrity and at worst self-destructive short-term thinking where all they care about is "What can I get out of this Right Now?"

It amazes me that for all their big talk, these people's vision is so small. Like with the budget stuff last week...after all this crazy talk over nothing...the current budget looks an awful lot like that of last year or the year before...and as usual there's no direction from the White House, only the threat of a government shutdown that Trump isn't the one who has power to effect. This guy can bluster and "look into" and "Review" all the stuff he wants. The constitution and the law are what they are, and everybody else in the system but him knows it's dangerous to set the precedent of doing a lot of tinkering with it for the benefit of one man. After all, the next Democrat in office could then turn around and do the same...and eventually we end up with a bipolar and ineffective government that tries to reinvent the wheel every four years. At this point, as several people that I know have said, these people's incompetence is the main thing protecting us from their malice.

Hell, yesterday I watched a video of Trump giving a speech with the US Air Force Falcons football team standing behind him...and all the cadets, from the most Republican of our Armed Services, were either failing at game faces or trying not to laugh (and failing) and one cadet looked like he hid behind another to facepalm a couple of times. The speech was intended to honor the team...but Trump made it all about himself.

This is what we're dealing with here. I often think getting through all this will be easier than I thought. But at the same time, overall the situation is more of a train wreck than I ever thought it could possibly be. I guess I was expecting a smarter wannabe-autocrat.

Things are holding, the situation seems still in hand, but barely. We're all just going to have to keep doing the best we can and we'll all get through this together.

In the meantime, we need to be as decent to each other as we can be. Ignore the pop-culture bullshit and stupidity...because those things are a big part of what got us here. Count up the small victories, and keep the tide rolling, because that's how you make a tidal wave, eventually.

Change is coming, very likely it's going to look like the Apocalypse for somebody...and it looks increasingly likely that it's going to be the people who have it coming.

The only thing that worries me is that they'll probably take a lot of the rest of us down with them. That's why we have to be prepared. The afterlife is only a heartbeat away, and what we do in life echoes in eternity.

Be ready, just in case. Be strong. Master your fear and reach for the stars.

There's a man goin' 'round takin' names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reachin' down
When the man comes around

The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup
Or disappear into the potter's ground?
When the man comes around

Hear the trumpets hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singin'
Multitudes are marchin' to the big kettledrum
Voices callin', voices cryin'
Some are born and some are dyin'
It's alpha and omega's kingdom come
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

~Johnny Cash, the Man comes around.